Old-timers on the Panama Railroad were wont to say that the construction of the line had cost a life for every single crosstie between Aspinwall (now Colón) and the Pacific. Modern historians say that claim is nonsense; it was more like a life for every eight or ten crossties. Whatever the numbers, the cost in both money ($8 million in gold, or about $175 million in today's inflated currency) and lives was incredibly high for what would end up as less than fifty miles of railroad.

But that short fifty miles would prove to be a pivotal turning point in the history of the Americas. Without it neither the first U.S. transcontinental railroad nor the Panama Canal could have been constructed in anything close to their present forms. To speed construction the Big Four of the Central Pacific shipped the lion's share of their building materiel via Panama; without this expeditious link the junction point with the Union Pacific would have been somewhere in western Nevada if indeed the Central Pacific could have been built at all. And the Panama Canal could never have been more than a dream without the railroad to move the massive amounts of earth displaced by the immense excavations.

Read about the history of Panama and the railroad at The Panama Railroad pages.


From the pages of the Official Guide, December 1948

Panama Railroad herald

Passenger Service

Panama Railroad
February 3, 1946

Train Number 31 3 5 7 9
Miles Ex Su Daily Daily Daily Daily
0.00 Colon Dp 7 00A 12 15P 4 40P 10 00P
1.58 Mount Hope 5 30A 7 05A 12 20P 4 45P 10 05P
6.80 Gatun 5 45A 7 17A 12 32P 4 57P 10 15P
11.72 Quebrancha F 5 54A
14.50 Monte Lirio F 6 00A F 7 29A F 5 09P
17.85 Bohio F 6 05A
20.96 Frijoles 6 15A 7 39A 5 19P
25.36 Darien F 6 23A F 7 47A F 5 25P
30.21 Gamboa 6 40A 7 54A 1 09P 5 38P 10 54P
35.22 Summit F 6 50A F 8 03A F 1 18P F 5 48P F11 04P
40.28 Pedro Miguel 7 00A 8 12A 1 29P 5 59P 11 13P
44.26 Corozal F 7 43A 8 19A 1 36P 6 07P F11 20P
44.99 Diablo Ar 7 45A
46.30 Balboa Heights 8 25A 1 45P 6 15P 11 25P
47.64 Panama Ar 8 30A 1 50P 6 20P 11 30P

Train Number 2 32 4 6 8
Miles Daily Ex Su Daily Daily Daily
0.00 Panama Dp 7 00A 12 15P 4 40P 10 00P
1.34 Balboa Heights 7 07A 12 23P 4 47P 10 05P
2.65 Diablo Dp 8 50A
3.38 Corozal 7 13A F 8 55A 12 28P 4 53P 10 10P
7.36 Pedro Miguel 7 22A 9 10A 12 38P 5 03P 10 21P
12.42 Summit 7 32A F 9 30A F12 47P F 5 13P F10 29P
17.43 Gamboa 7 42A 10 00A 12 57P 5 23P 10 39P
22.28 Darien F 7 50A F10 10A
26.68 Frijoles 8 02A 10 30A 5 41P
29.79 Bohio F10 37A
33.14 Monte Lirio F 8 12A F10 45A F 5 51P
35.92 Quebrancha F10 51A
40.84 Gatun 8 27A 11 18A 1 37P 6 06P 11 17P
46.06 Mount Hope 8 37A 11 30A 1 47P 6 17P 11 27P
47.64 Colon Ar 8 40A 1 50P 6 20P 11 30P

Train 3 (Colon-Panama City): 10 stops, 1:30, 31.8 MPHTrain 5 (Colon-Panama City): 7 stops, 1:35, 30.1 MPH

Train 7 (Colon-Panama City): 10 stops, 1:40, 28.6 MPHTrain 9 (Colon-Panama City): 7 stops, 1:30, 31.8 MPH

Train 2 (Panama City-Colon): 10 stops, 1:40, 28.6 MPHTrain 4 (Panama City-Colon): 7 stops, 1:35, 30.1 MPH

Train 6 (Panama City-Colon): 9 stops, 1:40, 28.6 MPHTrain 8 (Panama City-Colon): 7 stops, 1:30, 31.8 MPH

Train 31 (Mount Hope-Diablo): 10 stops, 2:15, 19.3 MPHTrain 32 (Diablo-Mount Hope): 10 stops, 2:40, 16.3 MPH


Note: Trains 31 and 32 are mixed trains and do not operate on Sundays and holidays.

The Panama Railroad's passenger schedules disappeared from the Official Guide in the early 1950s, replaced by a thumbnail entry which gave basic railroad information and touted "Frequent Daily Passenger Service". In more recent years the railroad fell into disrepair, but in 1998 a joint venture of Kansas City Southern and Mi-Jack products was awarded a 50-year concession to rebuild and upgrade the line for modernized freight and passenger service. It continues to operate today.